


Journey to the Eternals' Pass

by lightning_warning



Category: Fablehaven Series - Brandon Mull
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-10 22:27:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3305648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightning_warning/pseuds/lightning_warning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kendra Sorenson thought her life could be at least relatively normal after they defeated the demons of Zzyzx, until suddenly magical creatures start to lose control of their own minds, good creatures are possessed, and they are forced to journey to uncover a secret so ancient and legendary it is believed to be a myth. The Pass of Eternals may be their only solution, but at what cost?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Seth

Kendra Sorenson thought her brother couldn't possibly get more annoying. Apparently, she was wrong.

Seth had done some pretty outrageous things in the past, but sneaking into and crashing her sort-of-date took the cake.

She was actually having a normal day for once-going for class, complaining about homework, having lunch with her friends-a perfect day away from the slight insanity at Fablehaven, a secret preserve for magical creatures, where she lived full-time with her grandparents.

Sitting in a dark movie theater with her sort-of-boyfriend, who'd managed to slip away from his duties in the fairy realm for the evening, she felt like a regular girl on a regular date. Well, if you ignored the fact that her date was a swoon-worthy unicorn who was, despite looking like a high school senior, hundreds of years old.

"Kendra." Bracken whispered, making Kendra jump. "Are you all right? You're really quiet all of a sudden."

"It's a movie." Kendra replied.

"A comedy."

Even though it was pitch black, she could still see Bracken's handsome, concerned features perfectly well. "It's a romance, too."

"Which you chose." Bracken pointed out in a hushed voice.

Kendra shrugged. In the darkness, with rows of empty seats around them (the movie was just about ending its run), she was nervous. Nothing should spoil this, but she had a horrible certainty that it was going to be screwed up somehow.

And she was right.

Bracked locked eyes with her and her stomach flipped as he slowly started edging towards Kendra's first kiss. Suddenly a seemingly empty chair behind them shuddered, yelped extremely loudly, and dumped a box of sticky popcorn on Kendra's head.

In a flash, Bracken whipped around and grabbed the previously invisible offender.

Holding the empty popcorn box and looking guilty, Seth Sorenson held up both hands in a surrendering gesture. "Seth?!" Kendra cried.

"Don't kill me!" Seth yelped, seeing Bracken's hand already on his hidden sword, which the unicorn and son of the Fairy Queen had instinctively gone for. "I'm innocent!"

Bracken released Kendra's brother, frowning slightly.

Kendra glared furiously at Seth, folding her arms. The few other people in the cinema were starting to stare, and she hissed through her teeth, "what are you doing here?" She hoped Seth couldn't see her, because her cheeks were burning red.

"Watching you-I mean, watching the movie," snickered Seth slightly lamely, pointing at the screen. "Hey, Bracken. I didn't know you were into this sort of stuff. Or," he added, puckering his lips, "did you just come here to smooch?"

Seth couldn't see Bracken blushing, but Kendra could. "Shut up, Seth!" Kendra whispered angrily. "How did you even get in here?"

Seth glanced at the people shooting annoyed looks at them and gave his sister a look.

"Fablehaven stuff?" She growled.

He gave her another look.

"This show is for mature audiences sixteen and above, doofus. Not immature boys who like annoying their sisters."

Seth poofed out his cheeks. "Just doing my job."

"Well, you're fired." Kendra snapped. "Now would you please get out of here before someone notices you?"

Seth pointed at the people turning curiously-not to mention angrily-around. "I think they already did. Besides, you can't fire the CEO."

"Just get out!"

Seth shrugged and, rummaging in what Kendra recognised as his emergency kit (formerly a cereal box, now a leather satchel), he pulled out a glove. Formerly the property of Coulter Dixon, it had been passed to their friend Warren Burgess, who had given it to Seth for his birthday. Tipping her an infuriating wink, he pulled it on and promptly turned invisible when he was sure no one else was looking.

Meanwhile, she realised Seth's absence had made things a little awkward between her and Bracken, who leaned back in his seat in uncomfortable silence.

"You have popcorn in your hair." He murmured finally.

Kendra sighed. "I'm going to kill Seth."

*

"Kendra back." A gravelly voice rumbled as Kendra and Bracken entered the grounds of the house just as night started to fall, the darkness slowly seeping over the colours of the sunset.

"Hey, Hugo." Kendra smiled, waving at the ten-foot-tall, earthy golem who headed towards them, not perfectly steady nor balanced, but walking nonetheless. The golem broke out into a clumsy, slightly lopsided grin.

"Kendra!" Another voice, higher and clearer this time, chirped happily. A large, fluttering shape landed on the ground with a thud in front of her. Raxtus, a small dragon who, as a result of being raised by fairies, had the ability of making things grow as a breath weapon, but had his father's impenetrable scales and diamond-hard claws.

"Hi, Raxtus." Kendra said slightly suspiciously now, with less enthusiasm. It seemed a little strange that so many people were around the very first time she had an opportunity to do something with Bracken.

Raxtus beamed at her, his tail flicking back and forth. "How was your day?"

Kendra's suspicions rose. "Fine." She said, eyeing him. "Why do you ask?"

He looked a little uncomfortable. "Just asking."

"Hello, Kendra," a light, airy voice said in her ear. She jumped. A tiny fairy, with short blueberry-coloured hair, violet eyes and floaty silver wings, smiled at her.

"Shiara." Kendra greeted, but regarding the welcome trio in a different perspective now.

"Hey, Shiara." Bracken smiled at the fairy, who returned the gesture wholeheartedly. Her wings fluttered in excitement.

"Bracken! How nice to see you! How was your night?"

Now Bracken cocked a brow. "Good. Fine. Is there a reason why all of you are suddenly so interested in our daily schedule?"

"Oh, no..." Raxtus muttered. "Just wanted to know. That's all."

Kendra put her hands on her hips. "Okay, who sent you out to spy on us? Seth was in the theatre, now you three are here. Was it mom? Dad? Grandpa?"

"I-" Raxtus opened his mouth guiltily, but before he got the chance to confess, a mass of sparkles mobbed their vicinity.

Bracken laughed and grinned as the fairies darted excitedly around him. As a unicorn, and the son of the Fairy Queen, he was probably the most highly regarded person in the fairy realm after the Queen herself. Of course, it helped that he was visually stunning. "You all look beautiful." He assured them.

The already gleeful fairies became hyperactive at the compliment, whipping around so fast that Kendra could hardly see Bracken anymore. Shiara looked as though she was tempted to join her sisters, but firmly planted herself on a low-hanging tree branch nearby.

"Oh, look, Kendra's back." A snide fairy voice said in Slivian, the fairy language. Kendra's status as fairykind meant that she could hear fairy languages as clearly as English, and recently she'd started learning how to distinguish different languages from the other.

A few fairies strayed away from the excitement that was Bracken to survey her primly. Primarily vain, the fairies still had not completely taken a liking to her, save a few such as Shiara, but they certainly liked her more than they liked Seth, Kendra reflected with a grin, after all, their first stay at Fablehaven, he had accidentally turned one of them into an imp.

"She still looks as boring as ever," sniffed another.

"And she still gets Bracken's favour." A fairy with dark skin and exotic glossy hair muttered.

"And she can still hear you." Kendra reminded them. The third fairy scoffed, putting her nose up in the air and fluttering haughtily away with the other two. Her gaze straying to the house, she noticed a movement in the attic window and trained her vision upon it.

Her brother Seth frantically waved from the window, mouthing something. She didn't know what he was up to, but after his little theatre stunt, she wasn't keen to trust him completely. Even as she gave a shake of her head, Seth started jumping up and down, trying to draw her attention. Both his arms were flailing now.

Kendra sighed. "Bracken," she started. After a moment without a reply, she glanced back. Bracken was still enjoying the company of about a kazillion fairies who all adored him. "Bracken," she said, more sharply, as Seth's face morphed into worry and he glanced behind him. "Bracken." She said firmly, grabbing his wrist and pulling him out of the mob.

"Hm?" Bracken said, then shook his head. "Sorry, Kendra. Did you need something?"

"I think Seth's in trouble." Kendra said, pointing at the person in question.

Bracken frowned. "Normal trouble, or trouble trouble?"

"I think trouble trouble."

Bracken nodded. "I can send a few fairies up there while we make our way up."

"I can too."

Bracken smiled slightly. "No offence, Kendra, but I think they like me slightly better than they like you."

"That's probably true." Kendra admitted. "I'll go ahead."

"Thank you."

Kendra headed off towards the house with Hugo and Raxtus trailing behind her like bodyguards while Bracken, in that simple, firm voice of his, arranged for several fairies to fly up to the attic and relay any news directly to him. Excited volunteers were soon shooting off one by one.

Job done, Bracken jogged and easily caught up to Kendra. "All right, let's go see what your brother's up to now."

*

Kendra and Bracken made their way up to the attic playroom where Kendra and Seth slept. As they got closer, they realised that Seth really wasn't fooling around-sounds of a scuffle came from behind the door. Kendra's eyes widened, and, running up the last flight of stairs three at a time, she dashed for the door.

It was locked.

"Kendra," Bracken warned. She quickly stepped aside as he obliterated the door with a slash of his knife.

"KENDRAAAA!" Seth yelled as he jumped onto Kendra's bed. A heavy object whacked the spot he'd been standing in seconds ago. "HELP MEEE!"

Kendra located the problem easily: a tall wooden limberjack chasing after Seth with what could almost be described as vengeance. She hesitated for a moment, not sure what to do. Bracken didn't have the same problem. Drawing both his knives now-an alternate form for his horns-he launched forward with astonishing speed and tackled the wooden puppet with a graceful leap across the room, pinning him to the ground.

"Don't destroy him!" Seth yelled from his position on Kendra's pillow. She sighed. If he was going to get someone's pillow covered with dirt and boot marks, he could at least have the decency to make it his.

Bracken had his blade poised to turn the puppet into firewood. "Then what?"

"Can't you... freeze him or something?"

Bracken glanced at Seth, then at the window, where fairies hovered, peering in. "I'm a unicorn, Seth."

"Can the fairies do it?" Seth pleaded. "Seriously. I don't want him to be destroyed again."

"He was trying to destroy you!"

"Maybe he's had a bad day. Maybe he found Kendra's diary too mushy. Please don't destroy him."

Bracken sighed. "The fairies might be able to help. Kendra, would you open the window?"

She complied and the fairies flitted in. They perched around Bracken, and Kendra could hear them complaining. Oh no, not the puppet again. How many times are we going to have to go through this? Bracken gestured, and rose. Mendigo leapt to his feet again, only to be blasted by a flash of light.

When the blinding light receded, Mendigo was frozen in place. "You didn't take the magic out of him, did you?" said Seth suspiciously.

The fairies turned up their noses at him. Bracken repeated the question in Slivian. They replied by shaking their heads, and a couple rolled their eyes at Seth's question. Bracken dismissed them, and turned to Seth. Kendra went over to Mendigo and frowned. The puppet, after having been destroyed by poison in the dragon sanctuary Wyrmroost, had been restored by the wizard Agad, and had been consistenly un-evil... until now.

"What happened?" Bracken asked, voicing Kendra's thoughts.

"I don't know." Seth said, looking worried, clambering down from Kendra's bed and leaving a trail of black prints. "We were, um, going through my stuff, and he suddenly went berserk." Kendra looked around. There were a lot of things on the ground, but none of it looked like Seth's. The mess on the floor was made up of coins, small rings, a couple of little statuettes, and dozens of DVD cases.

"Have you been trading with the satyrs again?" Kendra demanded to know.

"Um... what gives you that idea?"

Kendra raised an eyebrow. "I thought grandpa got them a proper TV."

"Yeah, but... they wanted movies." Seth said, gesturing at the various DVDs on the ground. "They offered to trade."

"And you agreed?"

"Hey, I need money, okay?"

Kendra groaned. "You couldn't have gotten a job like a normal kid? Grandpa's going to be furious when he finds out. You're really immature, Seth."

"I'm not the one who froze there while her brother was being attacked by an insane wooden puppet and left her boyfriend to defend me. "

"That is not immaturity." Kendra said indignantly. "It's..." she faltered to come up with a word. "It's something." She said haughtily. "But it's not immaturity."

"Whatever, miss immaturity." Seth scoffed. He walked over to Mendigo, frowning as he inspected the puppet. "Something weird's going on, and I don't mean you two."

Kendra ignored the jibe to focus on the more pressing matter at hand. It hadn't been a long time since the demon prison Zzyzx had been opened, releasing hundreds of demons, leaving Bracken to guide the fairy army, the astrids, as well as Kendra and her friends to fight them. Now that the demons were safely contained in what used to be the fairy realm, the Fairy Queen had taken over the former Zzyzx and the rebuilding of her kingdom was ongoing.

"We should tell an adult." She said firmly.

Seth groaned. "That isn't the solution for everything, Kendra. Oh, I broke my arm, let's go tell an adult, ooh, I lost at monopoly, let's go tell an adult, ooh, Seth stole my cookie, ooh, my boyfriend broke up with me, ooh-" Kendra whacked her brother with her dirty pillow.

"Shut up, Seth, this isn't a time to joke around. We need to tell grandpa that Mendigo tried to attack you."

"Tried to attack me? Kendra, he did attack me!"

"I agree with Kendra," Bracken said, "you should tell Stan."

"Tell Stan what?" Warren Burgess, who was passing by, poked his head into the room and surveyed the damage. "Seth, what on earth-" he looked at the door, which had a large crack running through it.

"It wasn't me who destroyed the door, it was Bracken." Warren looked at Seth as though he was crazy. Unlike Seth, Bracken did not generally go around destroying things and making trouble. "Mendigo was attacking me," Seth explained. Warren looked at Bracken and Kendra to make sure Seth wasn't lying. They both nodded shortly for confirmation. Warren glanced at Mendigo.

"Tell Stan." He agreed. "This is worrying."

The four of them trooped downstairs to find grandpa, Warren and Bracken carrying Mendigo between them. As they neared the kitchen, an annoyed voice floated out of the open doorway. "-really, I'm a couple of gifts away from shooting them."

Kendra popped into the kitchen, interested by Vanessa Santoro's conversation with Mara. Vanessa, a narcoblix capable of controlling people in their sleep, was a knockout of a young lady, skilled in combat and in other various areas. Vanessa and Mara were seated at the table, drinking coffee. A large pile of items was heaped on the table, including various suspiciously familiar jewellery.

"Hi, Kendra." Vanessa said tiredly, gesturing at the gifts. "A mixture of presents for you and me."

Kendra's brow furrowed for a moment until she picked up a necklace with her name tagged on it. Light dawned on her. "He didn't-"

"Yes, he did." Vanessa said irritably. "Those morons are under the impression that heaping gold on me is going to somehow magically make me their girlfriend." Vanessa sighed and took a long drink of her coffee.

Both Vanessa and Kendra had, along the way at their time in Fablehaven, acquired satyr suitors. Seth's television-loving friends, Newel and Doren, were infatuated with the beautiful blix and had been attempting to get her to like them. Their latest attempt now sat on the kitchen table in front of Kendra, who had also recieved more than a few gifts from Verl, a lovestruck satyr who had decided he was in love with Kendra.

"How was your date?" Mara asked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"It was fine." Kendra said. "Until Seth snuck in."

"Seth what?" Vanessa said. "I thought Seth was grounded."

It suddenly dawned on Kendra that her brother was indeed supposed to be grounded. Vanessa and Mara saw her expression and laughed. "It's all right, Kendra, boys will be boys." Vanessa jerked her head at the gifts. "Forever. Just look at Bracken."

"How are things with you and Warren?" Kendra retorted.

It was Vanessa's turn to look uncomfortable. "Fine." She said. For the past few weeks, Vanessa and Warren had been going out, although they pretended they weren't. Vanessa wasn't Bracken's biggest fan, but after the unicorn had announced that Vanessa liked Warren, it was found that the feeling was mutual.

At that moment, something crashed down the hallway, followed by an ear-piercing wailing. Raised, urgent voices hit the air sharply. Vanessa looked at Mara and the two stood up simultaneously, their chairs scraping against the floor.

Kendra had a bad feeling that something had happened with Warren, Bracken and Seth. As she darted out into the hallway, she found she was right-and it could not possibly be worse.


	2. Mendigo

"This is impossible!" Bracken was yelling. He was tensed up, ready for a fight, but at the same time, Kendra could see the shock on his face. Fairy magic had never failed before-and never so spectacularly.

"How'd this happen?" Kendra shouted, cautiously eyeing the mass of poised wooden limberjacks.  She realised something even as she did. "Are they all... are they all  _Mendigo?"_

"Yes!" Seth moaned. "The fairies' magic must have screwed up... I told you they didn't like me!" He was gripping a wooden bat and his eyes darted from one Mendigo to another. 

Kendra looked at Warren. "He came alive," Warren said, "and  _multiplied._ One moment there was just one. The next, there were dozens just materialising out of thin air." He gestured at the limberjacks. "The thing is, they haven't attacked, so we don't know-"

"Seth!" Bracken hollered, and Seth leapt back in shock as a limberjack thudded to the ground at his feet still clawing feebly, Bracken's sword impaling it through its body and pinning it to the floor. The three limberjacks nearest to Warren leapt at him, a flurry of wooden limbs. Each of them as tall as Warren was and incapable of pain or feeling, they were a formidable opponent, and Warren, caught off guard, was already struggling.

Suddenly the rest of the limberjacks sprung into action. Several hurled themselves at Kendra, but were knocked off course by Vanessa Santoro, who had charged into the scene with a grim look on her face. The narcoblix surveyed the scene grimly, then launched herself into the fight. Mara was not far behind.

It was one of Kendra's more guilty moments. She had never been much help in a physical fight. She wasn't a fantastic fighter like Warren or Vanessa. She didn't even have Seth's mix of courage and sheer insanity. All she had-and at times like this, regrettably-were fairy powers which did not include magic for combat.

Still, there was no point feeling sorry for herself at a time like this. She'd just have to use whatever she had. Which, in this case, meant the large golden orb she had spied among the presents earlier.

She raced back into the kitchen and scooped up the sphere. The second it came into contact with her skin, it began to glow a pure, brilliant white. It was magic. Excellent. Kendra rejoined the fight just in time to see a limberjack grappling with her brother. The ball was heavy and hot in her hands as her energy infused it.

Seth spotted Kendra. "Help me!" He yelled, attempting to keep the puppet's arms from throttling him. "Now would be a good time for some awesome fairy magic!"

"One second!" Kendra felt the ball hum beneath her fingers, and she knew it was ready. She hurled it at the limberjack, and it smashed into the puppet, bowling it over and cracking its body into splinters. 

"Nice aim." Seth said, panting as he stood and picked up the ball. "Can I throw it?"

Kendra eyed her brother, who would gleefully send a wrecking ball into enemies. He might be able to use it more effectively than her. "Okay."

Seth grinned and with a powerful, arching throw knocked the head off a limberjack about to attack Warren. "Like coconuts at the carnival!" He whooped, diving in to retrieve his new favourite weapon. Kendra went to pick up Seth's abandoned bat and found herself being fairly good with it.

Although the limberjacks had the advantage in numbers, they had no thoughts, and were ineffective as a group. On the other hand, Kendra and Seth soon discovered that with the bat and orb, they could take down more than one limberjack with some strategising and careful placement. "Go long!" Seth yelled, a crazy grin on his face as he hurled the ball through the air. It smashed into one limberjack and Kendra whacked it with the bat, changing its course and sending it barrelling into another puppet. Seth cheered and ducked to get the sphere. "Again!"

"Nice batting, Kendra," Vanessa remarked as she took out a limberjack by dismantling it. The wooden limbs clattered onto the floor. Kendra glanced around the room and found the scatterings of dozens of wooden puppets lying mournfully on the floor.

"What about me?" Seth was saying indignantly. "I threw it!"

Vanessa smirked. "Nice throwing, Seth." She plucked the ball from his hands and with a two-handed grip brought it straight down on a limberjack's head. Seth watched open-mouthed as the head cleaved into millions of splinters.

" _Cool."_ He breathed. "Do that again!"

Vanessa obliged, and Kendra rolled her eyes as Seth leapt around like a hyperactive kid, cheering as the narcoblix whipped around causing maximum damage with the solid orb, her slim figure and grace betraying uncharacteristic strength. She was a born fighter. Kendra even found it vaguely unfair that Vanessa was beautiful, powerful and charming all at the same time.

As Vanessa was drawn into the fight, flashes of silver edged towards her, whipping through the air: Bracken, slicing through the puppets as easily as tissue paper, swords slashing with a magical grace. Between Vanessa, Bracken, Warren and some hollering and attempts from Seth, the puppets soon flopped feebly on the floor, no more dangerous than toys.

Vanessa tossed her hair and frowned down at the mess. "Stan isn't going to like this." She warned. "He's so convinced this house is safe."

"It normally is." Warren reminded her with a matching expression.

"What could have caused this?" Mara wondered, circling the mass of broken, splintered limberjacks. Kendra's eyes trailed her pacing.

"I didn't know Mendigo could multiply." Seth muttered to himself. "Which one is even the real one?"

Bracken was quietly lost in thought, but he met Kendra's worried glance reassuringly. "Tanu and Ruth are not on the premises, but the rest of us are still here. If this was an assassination attempt of sorts, it was a poorly planned one."

"Who would be trying to assassinate one of us?" Kendra asked, then realised it was a stupid question. In their time at Fablehaven, they had gained many friends, but made just as many enemies.

"My guess if they were after Seth, since he was attacked first and alone."

Vanessa's eyes darted to Seth. "When was this?" She said sharply, her voice accusing. "Why didn't I hear about it?"

"Didn't you tell her?" Bracken and Warren questioned Kendra in startled unison.

"I forgot." Kendra said sheepishly, trying to sound apologetic.

"Well, you can update me while we pick up this mess." Vanessa said shortly, eyeing the puppet parts with distaste. "And, Seth, I doubt it will be any small task finding the real Mendigo at this point."

"That's not a priority." Warren said tersely. "We've got to go inform Stan first. Bracken, come with me." He hesitated before adding, "Kendra, Seth, I suppose you'd better come along as well."

Looking excited at the prospect of escaping what would invariably be clean up duty, Seth skipped over wooden limbs to Warren. Kendra followed with a little less enthusiasm and a lot more apprehension. 

Her grandfather was in his study, frowning over a letter. Kendra glanced at the minute fairy skull in its display case as she walked by; it seemed a lot less pretty, and a lot more scandalous now that she knew the Fairy Queen. Warren gave a little cough to announce their presence; Grandpa Sorenson looked up, startled, evidently having been too absorbed in what he was reading to notice them come in.

"Ah, Stan-"

"Grandpa, we got attacked by like a hundred Mendigos!" Kendra wished fervently Seth didn't sound so enthusiastic. At any rate, he should be letting Warren explain. Ever since Zzyxz, Seth was usually more mature than he used to be, but he still had little slips of his previous self from pre to early Fablehaven days. Such as now.

Grandpa Sorenson straightened and put down the letter, more creases forming between his eyebrows. He looked at Warren for clarification. "Attacked?" He inquired tersely when he had heard the story. "And what  _do_ you think happened?"

"Well, dark magic, for one-" Warren began, but was interrupted by Grandpa's "no, not you. Kendra."

Kendra was startled. "Me?"

"Yes. What do you think happened?"

"Um, I don't know. I mean, I kind of just came home and Mendigo was attacking Seth..." Kendra's voice trailed off sheepishly; she knew it wasn't the answer her grandfather wanted to hear. "Dark magic, like Warren said, I suppose." She frowned suddenly. "Grandpa, you don't think it's a demon or something like that, do you?"

"I don't think so." Grandpa Sorenson said, but unconfidently. "All the demons should now be in Zzyxz-I mean, the fairy kingdom-well, the new prison. On this property, none of the major demons or dark forces remain. Kurisock and Ephira, Graulas, the revenant, Muriel Taggert, Bahumat..." He ticked names off his fingers. "All killed or imprisoned."

Memories had resurfaced with each name. Lena, the naiad who had left her pond and sacrificed her life to end a plague that was falling over Fablehaven at the lair of Kurisock. Graulas, who had caused their friend Coulter Dixon to lose his life. The revenant, who had, for so many years, kept Warren in an albino state until destroyed by Seth. Muriel Taggert and Bahumat, the terrors of Kendra's first stay at Fablehaven, whom she had to enlist the help of the fairy army to destroy. So much death and destruction in those few names. Kendra almost shuddered.

"-outside sources?" Warren was saying in a low voice. "Other beings... you must have heard the stories..."

"I have heard them, but choose not to believe them." Grandpa Sorenson said curtly. "Impossible fairytales."

Kendra seemed to have missed a bit in her reverie. She looked at Seth, hoping for answers, and was surprised to find her brother listening attentively to Warren and Grandpa. She glanced sideways at Bracken, who seemed to be paying as close, if not more, attention to the conversation.

"Stan, you've seen Zzyxz, you've seen your own granddaughter become fairykind... are you still trying to tell me there are things you think are impossible?"

"These are." Grandpa Sorenson said. "It completely goes against everything we know. The thought of it is ridiculous."

"But it's the only plausible answer. Think, Stan. That case up North, the inexplicable deaths, seemingly safe houses penetrated by dark magic, it's the same, isn't it?" Warren leaned forward insistently. "Only those weren't secret preserves like this one. You'd need much more powerful magic to infiltrate the safety of Fablehaven, and whoever it was has done it. Who-or what-else could it be?"

"I refuse to believe it's possible."

"Refusal to believe-that's what mom and dad did, wasn't it? For ages and ages, even though you tried to show them?" Seth pointed out. "And they missed out on so many awesome things!"

"They also missed out on the demons, though, that's a good thing." Kendra reminded him.

"Well, nothing's perfect, is it? When you're past it all the demons were actually pretty cool."

"Cool enough to kill you."

"Yeah, I mean-"

"Enough." Grandpa Sorenson said wearily. "Bracken, you've been quiet... what say you on the matter?" He cast Warren a look as he spoke, as though daring Bracken to side with Warren.

"I don't think it's any of the demons we've encountered before, or even a force known to us." Bracken said carefully. "But I have to say it doesn't seem plausible that the legends are true, even if if appears to be the only solution."

"It fits in perfectly!" Warren cried.

"Do you know what these legends are?" Kendra whispered to Seth, finally unable to take not knowing.

"A little, from what they were saying just now." Seth said quietly as Warren, Bracken and Grandpa debated. "Different demons. Not like those in Zzyxz. From somewhere else all together."

"Where would they have come from?" Kendra asked, bewildered. "How? Why?"

"I don't know. Grandpa doesn't believe they're anything more than stories."

"I gathered." Kendra murmured. Warren was insistent that they were real. Grandpa was just as stubborn that they didn't exist. Bracken, born a diplomat, was caught uncertainly on the fence, not quite sure who to support.

"Bracken." Warren demanded. "You're the Fairy Queen's son. You must have heard  _something..."_

Bracken frowned. Kendra felt the urge to smile because it was the exact same expression he'd had when she'd asked him what movie he'd wanted to watch. It was a slightly bewildered look, overwhelmed by the question. "There is... I suppose... my mother, the Queen, mentioned something once." He said hesitantly. "About greater evils than the demons of Zzyxz."

It felt like all warmth had been drained from the room. Warren didn't even look happy that he was right.  _Greater evils_ wasn't exactly what he had been hoping for. Grandpa looked defeated and sank into his chair, gesturing for Bracken to elaborate. The unicorn's frown deepened. He pushed his silvery hair away from his face. "Even I don't know much about it. Only that a long, long time ago, just after Zzyxz was created, they found dark creatures beyond their power to subdue. They could not defeat them, or imprison them as they did with the demons in Zzyxz, and thus banished them beyond this realm. No one quite knows where they were exiled to, exactly, but they were still very powerful, and the wizards who banished them almost died completing the spell. Several actually did. My mother could probably tell you more." He said finally.

Warren drummed his fingers on the table. "Stan, how many of the ancient wizards do we know?"

"Agad." Grandpa Sorenson answered. "You're not thinking of asking him about it?"

"As a matter of fact, that was exactly what I was thinking. Do you think I could take a trip to Living Mirage now?"

"No." Grandpa said firmly. "We need to wait for Ruth and the others to return so we can discuss this properly." As he finished speaking, the door burst open. It was Tanu. 

"Sorry to interrupt," he said urgently, "but the rest of us would like to join in. We have things to report, and they're not good."


End file.
